


Asaya and Beyond

by swiftishere



Series: MSA AU Bin [4]
Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Amnesia, Gen, Written for a Request, arthur's an alien this isn't super important, space travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:52:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26695555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swiftishere/pseuds/swiftishere
Summary: Lewis and Vivi travel the universe in a small spaceship. It's rather fragile, owing to its size, and one day they're caught in something too much for the ship to handle and are forced to make an emergency detour to the Asaya outpost, under the control of the Eviriyan empire.There, a stranger kindly offers to fix their ship. As he does, they quickly realize he isn't exactly your run-of-the-mill space tourist.
Relationships: Arthur & Lewis & Vivi (Mystery Skulls Animated)
Series: MSA AU Bin [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942603
Comments: 11
Kudos: 64





	Asaya and Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> written for @nenekokun

Lewis leans against a wall, and Vivi follows suit. The cold metal against his thin shirt makes him shiver a little.

"Eight days," Vivi says, bitter resignation in her voice. "Is everyone getting caught in solar storms or what?"

"Guess we just showed up at a bad time," Lewis comments, trying to sound positive. He isn't happy about the wait time either, but there's not much either of them can do about it. The mechanics at this place were obviously spread pretty thin already, and their dinky little privately owned ship wasn't exactly high on the list of priorities. For anyone that wasn't them, anyway.

"Hope Mystery'll hold up okay."

Lewis snorted. "He'll be fine. He's probably having the time of his life, playing pranks on whoever walks onto the ship." That AI acted all regal and official, but he had a mean streak, and he'd be delighted to get to flex his power in the ship over the clueless people trying to do maintenance on it.

They stood in silence for a while. The metal wall was starting to warm up against Lewis's back.

"How long do you think it'll take them to fix it once they start?"

"I'm not sure, that thing was pretty shot, wasn't it?" He kicked the floor idly, musing. "How much work do they need to do?"

"Wh-what kind of engine was it?" A third voice made them both jump.

They both turn to see an Eviriyan standing next to them. Orange plates of chitin framed more delicate facial features, and six eyes – two large ones where a human's would be, and two sets of smaller ones side-by-side underneath those – blinked back at them. He was wearing what looked like some form of ship uniform, but it was impossible to tell what kind because it was rather ratty and dusted with smoke and ash.

"Uh, no idea," Vivi answered his question. "It was... a small one? The kind that's usually two of them?"

"I can probably f-fix it for- for you," he says, leaning on the wall next to them-

Before they can talk any more, there's a loud commotion from down the hall, where the larger main rooms of this level are. Shouting and what sounds like... _sirens?_ And maybe a muffled voice over the intercom.

The stranger looks back over his shoulder, expression shifting. "Um. Maybe s-somewhere that's n-not here?"

"What's going _on_ down there?" Lewis leans over, trying to see past him into the room. Unfortunately, there's a sharp turn in the hallway that prevents him from looking down it all the way.

"Sure!" Vivi's still chipper, apparently unconcerned by whatever is going on. "Hey, we could actually just head to the ship, it's docked not far from here and then you'd know if you could actually fix it?"

Lewis is still a bit concerned about the commotion, but he's not about to get left behind, so he keeps pace with Vivi as they walk back to the bay.

* * *

"To be honest, we're not as great about repairing this thing as we should be, so I have no idea what state it's in," Vivi was saying.

"'s fine," was the stranger's easy response as he leaned further into the twisted mechanical mess that was their engines. " _So-o_... what br-brings you here?"

"Necessity. Fried one of our engines, this was the closest place we could make it to."

Lewis was only half listening to the conversation, mostly watching the station's news broadcast on his tablet. Somebody had broken out of the station's small jail, and the authorities were warning everyone to keep an eye out.

The stranger leaned back slightly to grab something out of the large toolbox he'd dug out of a nearby closet. "Sh-shouldn't need to replace it," he commented, "j-just- it's dented, b-but not cracked."

Vivi said something in response, but Lewis didn't hear it. He was too busy staring at the screen, where they were showing a still photograph of the escapee. They were instantly recognizable as the person currently elbow-deep in their engine.

He glanced back up at him, just to make sure. There was no mistaking it – the shape of the chitinous plates unusually thin for an adult Eviriyan, the striped orange coloring, the heterochromatic grey-and-gold eyes... Lewis looked away and attempted to catch Vivi's eye, but she was paying no attention to him.

Lewis spent the next however-long-it-took-him-to-work debating what to do. He couldn't outright _call him out_ for being the escapee, because who knew what he was capable of- but how did he tell Vivi without also letting him know he knew?

After what felt like both an eternity and far too short, the stranger leaned back and closed the hatch to the engine with a definite sense of finality. "Right, that sh-should be- be good now."

"Thank you _so_ much!" Vivi was too cheery, Lewis thought, for the situation. "So, what do we owe you?"

"Uh-" he hesitated for a moment, looking back at the ship. "C-could I... get a lift, m-maybe?"

"Oh! Uh, depends- where-"

"No," Lewis jumped in.

Both of them looked back at him, identical expressions of surprise and confusion on their faces.

"Kinda rude, Lew," Vivi was the first to speak. "How come?"

"You're a criminal," he said, making firm eye contact with the stranger.

The two larger eyes blinked. "...what?"

"I heard all about it while you were _fixing_ our engine. You broke out of the jail!"

This time all six eyes blinked in unison. "Oh, r-right."

"Wait, what, _seriously_?" Vivi looked between the two of them. "But you were-"

"Look, I- I know- b-but-" he held his hands up. "I- I- see- l-listen, I'm not... I d-don't th-th-think... I'm... dangerous? I don't want to hurt- I just- j-just... really need to- to get out of here."

That all sounded true – and Lewis would know if he was lying. But- " _why_? What did you do in the first place?"

"I... don't know. Look, I don't... r-really... remember... why I was th-there. Or... any- anything." Slowly he eased back until he was sitting against the ship, hands still sort of raised. "I just woke up in th-there and... look, they were taking me... s- _somewhere_ , and I needed to... to... just _get out_ , al- alright? I c-can't tell you why- cause- I don't _know_."

Once again, everything he was saying rang true. But it _couldn't_ be right- why would they hold an amnesiac hostage in the first place? What did it matter at that point- unless they _really_ needed to keep him locked up...

"Lewis," Vivi was saying, and he realized she'd called his name a few times. He looked up at her, and she continued. "Is all of that true?"

"Uh. I... I think... so?"

"You 'think' so?"

He looked back at the stranger. "No, it... it is."

"Well, in that case..." Vivi looked back as well.

"Hey, your first decision was to help some random strangers out with their ship. And, uh, I don't think you were planning to ask us for a ride when you did that. That's a plus in my book!"

"Vivi, we are _not_ taking him with us. That's ridiculous."

"Oh, you're right, what am I thinking?" She pushed off the wall she'd been leaning against, and walked over to the ship door. "One more... test." She went through the slightly arduous process of unlocking and opening the door, and then hopped inside. "Mystery, engine check!"

" _All operating at full capacity, no flaws detected._ " The AI sounded distinctly pleased. " _Give the mechanic my regards._ "

"Tell him yourself!" Vivi looked back over her shoulder and waved to the stranger. He blinked, obviously surprised, but obediently stood and followed her inside.

" _Vivi_ ," Lewis protested again, but followed along as well.

The interior of the ship was cramped for Lewis's frame, but annoyingly, the stranger seemed untroubled by the small space. He gave the habitable space a quick look around – there wasn't much to see – and then turned his attention back to Vivi.

"Are you really...?" he asked, hesitant like he was afraid of changing her mind.

"Sure, why not?" She shrugged. "Look, things break kind of on the reg around here, and we could use someone on hand who knows how to fix 'em. Plus, you seem nice, and I wanna help you out." Without breaking eye contact with him, the tone of her voice changed slightly, a little louder and more pointed. "And Lewis, I'm the captain here, so what I say goes. You're gonna have to live with it."

The stranger looked over at him. "I- uh, I'm s-sorry about this."

"Oh!" He hadn't been expecting the apology. This was Vivi's fault more than anything. It did put a few more points in his favor, though. "Ah, don't worry about it. She's right, you don't... seem all that bad. I don't think you're dangerous." He seemed to relax at that.

"So welcome aboard!" Vivi gave him a thumbs-up. "Uh- you got a name?"

He hesitated for a moment. "...Arthur?"

"Arthur, question mark?"

"You don't actually remember, do you?" Lewis identified the source of the confusion.

He shrugged. "Th-that's, uh, what the guards c-called- called me."

"Good enough! Arthur," Vivi turned, heading towards the cockpit of the ship, "we should take off- unless, uh, you have anything you need to grab, but I doubt it."

* * *

Ten or so lightyears away, behind a mask, lips curled into a scowl and six eyes narrowed, as emerald-green chitin-plated hands danced over a holographic screen. The King of the Eviriyan empire flipped through data on a tablet, analyzing all available data on the Asaya outpost.

"I am a strategist, first and foremost. You know this, yes?" His voice was cold, the question pointed at the outpost overseer standing by.

"Of course."

"Then do not doubt my word. I am _disappointed_ in you. This failure is... _impressive_." He turned, pausing his reading on the photo of the escaped convict. "You were _warned!_ That _prince_ -" the title was spat with disgust- "is a sneaky, tricky _bastard_ , and to weaken security on him was to _guarantee_ his escape."

"With the greatest respect, my _liege_ -" the formal title still obviously felt unnatural. "He remembers _nothing_. We did not- he did not seem able to, or aware he _should_ run-"

"Do you listen to _nothing?_ " the king hissed. "He does not need to _know_. He runs because it is in his _nature_ , and if you do not want him to escape you must _pin him down._ " He stood to his full height, easily towering over the overseer. "Now tell me. Have you learned from your mistake? Would you like to return yourself to my good graces?"

There was hesitance, but only for a moment. No matter how wrong it felt to submit to the king, he was, well, very _tall_ and convincing in everything he said and frankly terrifying to stand in front of. It was easy to see how he'd garnered support for seizing the throne. "Yes, my liege."

"I see fit, then, given your... prior records, to give you one more chance. You have access to all data on your outpost, and more knowledge of the comings and goings within than my... more capable workers. You will find the prince, and deliver him _directly_ to this palace. The cost is irrelevant. Be that in money, assets, or lives. Do I _make myself clear?"_

"Crystal." The overseer found himself kneeling without really meaning to, wanting to get that pointed gaze off of him as much as possible.

"Then get out of my sight. And _do not return_ unless it is with that _weasel_ in tow."


End file.
